Blog

This is the fourth and final in a series of four original Blog posts; the first is HERE the second is HERE the third is HERE. [Ed.] By Matti Pohjonen The previous cluster of methods looked at in the blog post series included methods developed to extrapolate insight from the content produced online and on social ...

This is the third in a series of four original Blog posts; the first is HERE and the second is HERE. [Ed.] By Matti Pohjonen The previous blog posts looked at the costs and benefits of using network analysis to identify extremist networks. It suggested that one challenge in such network analysis-based research approaches is ...

This is the second in a series of four original Blog posts; the first is HERE. [Ed.] By Matti Pohjonen The first blog post in this series explored how researchers interested in computational methods can assess the trade-off between the validity of the methods used and the potentially adverse social costs of using them in ...

Welcome to Volume 8 Issue 1 of the VOX-Pol Newsletter. If you have colleagues or friends who may be interested in the content of our newsletter, or any events or research carried out by VOX-Pol, please forward this to them and encourage them to subscribe via our website. Follow us on Twitter @VOX_Pol for live updates ...

This series of four blog posts builds on discussions had during the ‘Inside the Black Box of “Terrorism Informatics”: A Cost-benefit Analysis of Using Computational Techniques in Violent Online Political Extremism Research’ workshop organised by VOX-Pol in 2018. [Ed.] By Matti Pohjonen One of the most pressing challenges in research on violent online extremism is ...

Want to submit a blog post? Click here. By Joan Barata According to the latest figures provided by Facebook, 99,6% of the content actioned on grounds of terrorism (mostly related to the Islamic State, al-Qaeda, and their affiliates) was found and flagged before any user reported it. This being said, it is also worth noting ...

Want to submit a blog post? Click here. By Stuart Macdonald and Andrew Staniforth The importance of tackling online terrorist propaganda is well-accepted, as is the important role of social media companies in responding to this challenge. In this short piece, we report some initial findings from a wider project on cooperation between social media ...

Want to submit a blog post? Click here. By Helen Young and Geoff Boucher On 26 February this year, members of the extreme-Right group Atomwaffen Division in the United States were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit acts of terrorism. Alongside plans for the intimidation of journalists, including death threats, the group aimed to ...

Want to submit a blog post? Click here. By William Baldét You would be forgiven for thinking that the advent of Covid-19 and the accompanying lockdowns have led to the mass radicalization of our youth, consigned to cyberspace, and exposed to vast swathes of online terrorist propaganda. It’s true that cases of ‘self-radicalization’ in the ...

This article summarizes a recent study published in Terrorism and Political Violence. By Ryan Scrivens, Thomas W. Wojciechowski, and Richard Frank Researchers, practitioners, and policymakers have paid close attention to the presence of terrorists and extremists online in recent years, with a particular emphasis on digital communities that facilitate extreme right-wing ideologies. This is largely ...